Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 233: Bloomburrow Story with Valerie Valdes!
142 Plays3 months ago
Welcome back to the Goblin Lore Podcast!! This week Taya and Alex continue on with the Bloomburrow love (no really, Wizards, we love this plane, bring back blocks). Today they sit down with author Valerie Valdes to discuss her foray into this adorable anthropomorphic world.
We also finally have a Linktree with all of our discounts/resources
____________________________________________
As promised, we keep Mental Health Links available every episode. But For general Mental Health the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has great resources for people struggling with mental health concerns as well as their families. We also want to draw attention to this article on stigma from NAMI's site.
If you’re thinking about suicide or just need someone to talk to right now, you can get support from any of the resources below.
- National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988
- Veteran's can Press 1 at anytime to be taken to the Veteran's Line
- Crisis Text Line: Text HOME to 741-741
- International suicide hotlines: A comprehensive resource list for people outside the US.
- IMAlive: Click Chat Now to access a live online network of volunteers through instant messaging.
- TrevorLifeline, TrevorChat, and TrevorText (LGBTQ+ crisis support): 1-866-488-7386, or text “Trevor” to 1-202-304-1200
- Trans Lifeline (US): (877) 565-8860
____________________________________________
Opening and closing music by Wintergatan (@wintergatan). Logo art by Steven Raffael (@SteveRaffle)
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Goblin Lore Podcast
00:00:09
Speaker
are
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello Podwalkers, and welcome to another episode of the Goblin Lore podcast. We have a great, ah wonderful episode tonight.
Hosts and Guest Introduction
00:00:38
Speaker
um As is we've talked about recently, Hobbs is taking a break, but Tay and I are both here, and we have a wonderful guest. So I'm going to do my introduction very quickly so we can get on to to our guest quicker. um I'm Alex, on on Twitter at Mel underscore chronicler. My pronouns are he him. And tonight, we are talking to Valerie.
Valerie Valdez and Her Work
00:01:01
Speaker
I realized we talked before the show, and I could have asked you how to pronounce your last name, and I didn't. How do you pronounce your last name? It's okay. It's Valdez. Valdez, okay. So we're talking to Valerie, who wrote the Bloomberg story. And so we're going to be talking story, which is going to be wonderful. So we have an intro question. I'm going to get my answer out of the way and then introduce herself and we can move on to talking to the guest. So what planeswalker or former planeswalker would you like to see visit Bloomberg and what creature type would they be? As happens sometimes I'm answering the question weird because this time not because I am weird, but because I didn't prepare, but I'm going to say Gideon feels like he would be a particularly heroic mouse.
00:01:45
Speaker
um I did a pre-release this weekend and was um blessed to to have a very very strong mouse deck, which was a lot of fun to play. and and I believe Gideon would have fit in very well with Mousekind. Well, honestly, I think Gideon would have benefited from the the example of Mousekind, of being heroic, but then also living an actual life for themselves and and their families. And I think that's ah an influence he could have benefited from greatly.
00:02:19
Speaker
Yeah, that's a really good answer, Alex. Hi, it's Taya, pronouns are she, her, they, them. I'm on Taya Transcendence on Blue Sky. And ah to no one's surprise, I'm gonna pick Chandra. um And I would have said Squirrel, but they're Black Green on Bloomberg. So I'm gonna go Chipmunk, because she has that frantic energy to her. that just makes it, it's gotta be something that scurries around and doesn't seem to have a care in the world and ah is adorable because of Chandra. So I went with Chipmunk for this just because squirrels were already taken ah and she's definitely not black green. Yeah, I like it. That's great.
00:03:10
Speaker
And yeah, so we'll introduce our guest. ah Valerie Valdez ah was the author for the Bloomberg story. Welcome.
Valerie's Favorite Magic Stories
00:03:17
Speaker
I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. All right. I'm going to answer the question and I'll dive in. oh She heard pronouns for me, by the way. Um, so I had to think about this a bit and I'm just going to go with Quint. Quintorius can. Let's bring our boy to Bloomberg. Uh, I think that he would have a ah great time. Um, he would definitely be into exploring the plane and I think he would find it really relaxing after everything that he's been through recently. Um, and he would definitely be cool with delving into the lore. If we're going by pure color, I think he would be one of the mice, but I'm going to make him be an elephant shrew because it's funny. ah that's yeah yeah That's perfect. for somebody Somebody did some fan art of that and I think it's ideal. I would love to see that. i I love Quint. He's one of my favorites.
00:04:08
Speaker
I love the whole lore hold take on red white. It's probably my favorite take on red white, although the mice are pretty up there too. um Yeah, it is it's a good one. and i think But I think he if he's a mouse, he would still hang out a lot with the rats because I think that as the sort of knowledge keepers on this plane, um that would be something that he would want to live in their libraries for a little while. Yeah, definitely. That would absolutely be him. um Great. Well, we've got a bunch of questions. We have some that we came up with and some that were submitted by our Discord. And ah why don't you take the first one, Alex? All right.
00:04:49
Speaker
um
00:04:51
Speaker
Let's go with one of these listed questions from our Discord. So I'll start with a ah question from from cilantro lad here and just to ask, what's your favorite arc block set novel sort of era of of magic story that you weren't involved writing? Yeah, so I came to Magic's story recently. um There's another question about like, do you ever play Magic before? And so I will so i will sort of answer that. one to start with Yeah. No, no, no. but it's this This is going to accidentally answer both questions. yeah um My first set was revised. And I, at the time, was one of those people who had no interest in the story. I loved reading the flavor text. I was super you know interested and in that stuff. But otherwise, it was just a card game that I played with my friends.
00:05:34
Speaker
um And so I collected pretty much on and off and played on and off from revised all the way up through Mirage. And that was when I fell off the wagon. um So I missed out on like weather light and all of that stuff and everything we came after.
Writing Unique Magic Stories
00:05:50
Speaker
um and Because of that, I didn't really have any strong knowledge about the novels, for example, or any of the the short fiction that ended up coming out after that block. Of the recent stuff, ah the one that I have enjoyed a lot is actually Murders at Karlov Manor. I know that that one is maybe a controversial option, but
00:06:11
Speaker
I'm a big Seanan McGuire fan, I've read- Oh, we are definitely two. Okay, okay, good. i get to play I get the pleasure to play Commander with her frequently and she is just so much fun to play with. Yeah. And she's just a great, she's a great writer. I think that her mystery writing skills are excellent. And, um, I've read, you know, all but the most recent to Toby day books. And, uh, so I definitely had a strong predilection for that particular set. I enjoyed thunder junction too. And it could be wrong. Like this is not a dig on that one or anything, but, um, I, I've, I've always loved murder mysteries and, uh, that one was, was a lot of fun.
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, nobody expected the plant person to be responsible for the whole thing. I know, because she was so chill and, you know, one with the Earth and stuff. And it's like, yeah, but the Earth's mad now, so here we go. This is what happens when you make the Earth mad. Great, that's a good answer. I started in revised too and kind of played to about the same time before taking a very long break. And I started again in Aviston restored. So I've been playing continually again for about 13 years now, which is a lot of time to pick up story. and That's funny. so I started in revised as well. Oh, wow. There we go. my people Yeah. So um this world's very unique in the multiverse and the first set to ever have no human characters. How did it feel to be able to write a completely different magic story?
00:07:46
Speaker
So i I was very excited to be able to introduce this entirely new plane. And I think what was cool about it is that ah working with the story team, they they really let me feel that I could lean into a different style for this, a different sort of voice than magic stories tend to have. Often, they are a little more I'm not going to say like commercial fiction-y voice, but you know there's just um it everyone has their own style, everyone has their own voice. ah The previous Ixalan block, had which actually, maybe I should have picked that one for my favorite story because the Jason Rasker romances.
00:08:24
Speaker
oh yeah big hard eyes right there um But, ah and so she has a very poetic voice a lot of the others have very have very great voices and and for this one I was able to lean into a sort of. old-timey almost Tolkien-esque sort of voice is what I was going for, which I think is not quite something that has been done in Magic previously. I think that even when you had sets like Eldraine or stuff like that, it still wasn't quite the same sort of idyllic, um peaceful, chill, communal sort of plane. And so the stories were often even then more kind of conflict focused and ah less less about the Shire and the piece of it all. I'm looking forward to the video game where you just play a Hobbit and a Shire and that's all. Oh, yeah. That looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. Shire do Valley. No, like I know it has an actual different name, but yeah, that's exactly what it is.
00:09:28
Speaker
which looks great. Who doesn't want to just kind of chill? And I think what's cool about stuff like that, games games like that, is that you do get to have those sorts of peaceful, idyllic experiences.
Magic's Versatility in Storytelling
00:09:38
Speaker
And it also gives us, in the midst of our chaotic capitalist nightmares, a a sense of kind of control and calm and peace that we can't necessarily replicate in our own lives. And also often a sense of accomplishment, like, hey, I grew these plants. And weeding is much easier than it is in real life. Let me tell you, weeding reeds is not fun.
00:10:00
Speaker
Yeah. really enjoy I personally can say i also I really enjoyed that sort of departure from a different type of story world um within this set. So that was that was a lot of fun. Yeah. And I think what's cool is that we're going to be moving now into Duskmoor. And so it's going to be, ah if you know in some sense, it's like whiplash, right? Complete 180. Yeah. But I think what's cool is that magic does contain multitudes, right? You can tell all of these very different kinds of stories, and you can have these authors kind of digging into, if not even their own personal styles, then these sort of imitative styles that draw on the fiction that came before. There's a lot, you know, there's there's a huge anthropomorphic animal fiction tradition that um a lot of people love, especially things like Redwall and Mrs. Shrewsby and the Arts of Nim.
00:10:50
Speaker
wind in the willows, frog in tow. There's just so much stuff out there. um Even you know like my motorcycles and stuff. But like there's just so much, right? um Not even getting into Disney, you know Robin Hood and all that, which we also can can love. But um because magic contains these all these multitudes, we can then do that. We can then go from this really peaceful, chill set into how about some nightmares? yeah but and i mean and We just came out of a Western heist story too. so it's ah a nice Lots of change of pace, lots of different flavors for for folks who have different tastes. um Yeah. yeah and and You can dip in and out because all the short fiction is relatively self-contained.
00:11:34
Speaker
There's meta plot that's going on, but usually you can pick it up pretty quickly or it's briefly summarized within the story such that you can get enough of a feel for it that you can then dip your toes in and out and just kind of selectively read the styles and sets that you want and then you know let the others pass you by and that's okay. You can always come back whenever you're ready. Yeah. So that sort of leads into a question I want to ask. There's kind of two that were similar, so we'll just go with this one. But what was the most challenging part of fitting your story into the five-episode structure, sort of the structure that magic story has been in lately?
Character Development and Authenticity
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah, for this one, I actually felt pretty comfortable with five episodes for this one. um Lost Caverns of Ixalan, not so much. But this one, it actually, when I got the outline and when I was when i was working on the original outline, um because the story process is basically you get an outline that you yourself, the author, expand the outline into kind of an episode by episode outline. um And I actually felt really comfortable fitting it into five episodes for this one because I felt like it had the right amount of plot and everything kind of came together. Like I know that even coming out of episode four, um some people were like, oh my gosh, how is this going to end in a single episode? It's like, no, no, it does though. It all comes together. It was all moving towards a particular thing. It it works out.
00:12:57
Speaker
Um, and, and that's really how the story team had planned it from the beginning. There was, there's just not a ton of stuff happening in this story. It's pretty streamlined. It's pretty straightforward. Um, it's a very, just kind of travel adventure sort of, sort of tale, you know, more simplistic than like murders at Karlov Manor, where you have to have a lot more episodes to get twisty about things and have red herrings and have all these different characters introduced with their different motivations. and all the different stuff that they were doing and all the secrets that get revealed and then, you know, final climactic battles and things like that. But for this one, it was definitely, again, it was just more kind of straightforward, more streamlined, more together. And so I think that um one thing that's tough is trying to figure out the difference between this is a story that needed more time to breathe and that the pacing was too fast or too weird or whatever.
00:13:49
Speaker
um As opposed to, I wish we could have more of this. I wish we could spend more time in this awesome world because I love it. And I think like that's the thing. that is more what is happening here sometimes is that um i i would have I would love to write more story, but there wasn't like more plot to to do. It would be fun to have side stories here, but they would very much be side stories. They would be kind of in no way related. and um and and like there This is a cool plane that has a lot of potential side stories to tell, but at the same time, the main the main thing was just it was kind of what it is and and that was it.
00:14:28
Speaker
and yeah It felt to me like it came together pretty easily as compared to to Ixalan, which was there's a lot more going on there. Yeah, that that that makes some sense. Kind of with how the narrative arc happens to like this. Unlike some stories, this very much is a plane by and large of people who just go about their everyday lives, pick up adventuring if they need to and then put it back down. yeah Yeah, and I feel like there are a lot of cool, because the the story guide, or the world guide I should say, um has a lot of kind of built-in side quest feel-y stuff in terms of you know the mice go on their adventure to climb the top of the cliffs and and you know plant their flag as a group to prove their awesomeness. and
00:15:13
Speaker
You know, the lizards go to the ever burning tree and um every every creature type pretty much has kind of an inbuilt quest thing that they do. The Batfolk have like their vision quests, if I remember correctly. And so having side stories that embody that kind of stuff would be cool. um But at the same time, just kind of talking about it in a world guide fashion also is kind of cool in its own way. um Do I think they should make a D and&D set of this? Yes, because then you could play it and you could do all these cool things yourself and have your own quests to do these things. Again, it's like a lot of really built in neat questing stuff. um but I play a humble wood campaign, which is as close as we're going to get to Bloomborough, which if you're not familiar with it, it it's basically Bloomborough D and&D.
00:16:03
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Humblewood's very cool. um Mouse guard. There's also a rabbit one called, I think the warren that is really, the warren is way more watershed down. that And I w I want to say that for all the people that brought up watershed down as a thing here, I would, i that was not part of this for me. That one's way too. Like this is way more idyllic to me. Watership down is rough. Yeah. So, um, you know For me, ah I really liked Helga a lot in this story as an autistic person. Was it intentional to write her as a an autistic-like character, or was that part of the story plan?
00:16:47
Speaker
That was not part of the story plan. That was me. um Helga as a character was primarily um as she was envisioned. and um And this is me going by my brief perusal of the original outline I was provided and my memories, which I wrote the story a while back. so um ah it' Sometimes things get muddled. But um she definitely was intended to be kind of an auger, outsider type character who um you know her visions were not trusted by those around her. But I i was the one that leaned into the autistic and ADHD traits.
00:17:27
Speaker
and That's something that, you know, there's a lot of overlap there, right? um It was absolutely intentional to hear there is a lot of overlap there. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. And so especially with like AFAB women who are autistic or or have ADHD, there's a lot of masking that goes on. So it's often it's not diagnosed, but even so, there are still a lot of signs and symptoms that are very recognizable. um And so for Helga, and and and a lot of that is me. That's just me. That's pulling things from my own experience. um But it was also for Helga just drawing out the specific stuff that would make her an individual within the world. So things that I knew because I've lived them
00:18:12
Speaker
but also things that would make sense for her in her world, in her circumstances, with her background, and um just kind of giving her her own goals and needs then within that context. so um But a thing that was really important to me in writing her also was not fixing her. not the notion this is not like her character journey is not about getting better because that's not how it works that's we don't we don't get better what we do is we um learn how to live better i guess we we learn how to accept ourselves and we learn how to
00:18:50
Speaker
develop coping strategies and support systems. And that was really what I wanted her arc to be. Instead of her trying to twist herself into a pretzel to to fit in with where she lived, it was about finding a place where she could be herself authentically. And, um, and that was really important to me because I think that there are versions of this story where it's like, and then by the end, she is magically cured of her. And it's like, no, that's not, that's not right. That's not how any of this works. Or, I mean, and then you have the ones that go the other direction where, you know, it's like, I like Narset, but they really wrote her as the autistic superpower character. And, more than in this one felt a lot more grounded in, uh,
00:19:36
Speaker
in a real and just how you deal with it and how it affects your, you know, your sense of self and everything. So I thought that was really well ready. Yeah. And, and just kind of figuring out how to give your, your own, how to be your own personal best self, which is very, it's different for every single person because it is your personal best. And that personal best can vary day by day and just her kind of figuring that out and finding people who would accept who she is. and let her be her most authentic self and her best version of herself day to day as opposed to trying to get her to conform to the village and their needs. And so I think you know trying to jam the square peg in the round hole is not not the way to do it. It's trying to find where which is the the correct place to put that square peg.
00:20:33
Speaker
All right. um i met go Another question from ah from our Discord here. So from Theron Everwood, what part of the story was your favorite to write? ah Which part of the story was the most difficult? So I really loved writing the Good Hill parts with Mabel and her family. because they just um and And also the villagers, right? like i I loved writing her party. um And I loved writing her preparations for her party, I loved writing her kids, because I feel like magic story because it's very tends to be very focused again on conflict and drama and high stakes and serious stuff. um I felt like leaning into the idyllic was good here and
00:21:16
Speaker
i I feel like having good representations of families is nice. There's fiction that is a mirror and it reflects reality. And there's fiction that is the mirror of princes, so to speak, where you're trying to write reality as you wish it would be in the hopes that reality will start conforming, damn it. and um And so in a way, that's that's what I wanted to represent. It's like, here's a nice family. This is what nice family looks like. This is what nice families can be like. Real families are often not nice like this, but you know what? This is fiction and it's a nice place and they're going to be nice people and they're going to love each other and um they're going to support each other. And that's how it's going to be. And they're not without their own problems and troubles, but they're little problems. They're little troubles and they're going to solve them together. And I just wanted to, I just wanted to squeeze all their a little chips. They're adorable. Mabel's up for multiverse mom of the year. Yes.
00:22:12
Speaker
No, I i just, i the entire family structure, I loved it. And so to me, that was my favorite part to write, definitely. That again, in the party, the food, I love just sitting, coming up with the food was a lot of fun. um The hardest parts to write, ah definitely Helga's troubles, like when she was when she was struggling and really in her own head, it was tough because it was me just kind of opening my veins and bleeding on the page for the most part. And doing it in a way that, again, was character consistent, but it was still, it required a lot of self-reflection and a lot of digging into my own insecurities and my own troubles. And whenever that happens, whenever you put that on the page, it it's tough. It's tough to kind of live through that emotionally as you're figuring out how to talk about it in a way that makes sense and in a way that other people will understand, and most importantly, in a way that fits the character in the story.
00:23:03
Speaker
um And so that was definitely difficult, if only because of the emotional, you know, work that I had to put in to do that. And then the other part parts would be like Raoul's parts, just because I had to get to know him. Anytime you're writing an existing character, it's like, okay, what does this character sound like? What is this character like? I have to get a feel for him. I got to get to understanding his voice. I know the story team will take care of me. They're my safety net. So if I mess up, they're going to fix me. And they had to. They had to with Raul because I wasn't mean enough initially. i wasn't I wasn't cynical and sarcastic enough with him. I made him slightly too nice, unfortunately.
00:23:39
Speaker
because I was already in nice plane mode, but um but they fixed it. They they they made him correctly. But um ah having to do sort of that background research, was that's difficult because you want to represent this character authentically and he has been in so many stories, if not always. ah He's not a really a POV character necessarily, but he's there. you know He's present and he's doing stuff that and you want to make sure he's represented authentically. um And then figuring out how he would track Jace, because I'm there digging into all the lore I can get my hands on. And it seems like it's mostly just it works because plot and yeah trying to figure that out.
00:24:19
Speaker
Apparently, at some point in some stories somewhere, somebody does use Aether Trails to track someone, and it might have been the Wanderer. I don't remember if I found that that nugget somewhere. But ultimately, I was like, okay, the Wanderer would be the person who would know how to do this, okay? If anybody does, it's going to be her. um That scene was actually a late addition because we had extra space in that episode. And the story people were like, can you add like a realm POV section? I was like, oh, yeah, okay, I can do that, no problem. I know. That leads right into, you know, a question that I had, which, you know, that the POV scene from Raoul was great. You got an adorable scene with Tomic and just the whole line is, you know, I'm going to find Bellerin and I'm going to kill him. with You know, it's like Raoul has one thing on his mind. Yeah, yeah. And Tomic's just like... I was like, I was like, I'm going to get a running big gag in here and it's going to be like he wants...
00:25:13
Speaker
He wants, because he doesn't really want to kill Jace. It's not that he wants Jace dead. He just wants to shake him until his head pops off. And that's different. but That's different. That's when your friend does something really, really wrong and bad and you're like, what are you doing? You just want to shake him. That's the, he doesn't actually want to kill him, I think. yeah Tomic makes that clear, it's like, you really want to kill your friend. yeah And it's just kind of like, is he my friend though? Is he? Because I want to slap some sense into him. But he has he has a lot of real feelings there. And then when he turns into an otter, he he goes back to, I need to kill Jace. Because what the heck, yeah. and That was another thing, just like digging into Raoul's character. I'm kind of like, okay, how would he react to being turned into an otter? Because you think, okay, different characters, different planeswalkers, right? How would they feel? Some of them would be like, huh, this is interesting. Some would be like, okay, this is weird, but I guess I can figure it out. I'm going to make it work. And I'm just like, no, Raoul is a guy who
00:26:14
Speaker
is probably just very comfortable in his own body, I think, in the sense of he doesn't think about it a lot. I think he's too busy thinking lofty thoughts. he's i think he's very kind of um I've said like like Tony Stark, Reed Richards kind kind of guy. where yeah yeah He strikes me as the kind of guy that, especially now that he has a husband, Talmik is the kind of person who is sending people to make sure Raoul is eating, because Raoul is too busy thinking deep thoughts and inventing stuff. um And so I was like, he's going to hate this, because he's never really had to think that hard about his body before, and now he's got a freaking tail. Now it's like, my fingers are not the same. they're They're clawed and weird and all the stuff I took for granted about my meat sack just doing what I told it to do.
00:27:00
Speaker
I can't take it for granted anymore, and I hate it. I love the running gag with his tail hitting people and stuff. That was... Yeah. Or people commenting on it. Like, in that matter, it's like he's never had a tail before. Yeah. Because he hasn't. it doesn't He doesn't get what it's there for and what does it do. He's like, what is what is what is this thing that has happened to me? And I don't like it. And I think that if it had happened to anyone else, he'd be like, I would like to study this phenomenon. Oh, he would. Absolutely. But not with him, not him though. he he is not He's not scientist enough to get past the fact that he's stuck with the tail right now. Yeah.
00:27:40
Speaker
Anyway, was there more questions? I went on a tangent. We already answered why we got one POV from him because it was originally- Oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, single POV thing. We only got one from him because he wasn't the main character. I wanted the story to be about the people on the plane, the local residents. I liked having him there. i think i think he Like I said, he was a late addition in terms of POV, and i I think it would have been okay to not have it. i loved I loved adding it. I think it does work really well, but I think even without his POV in there, just having a random otter show up and ah being like like, that could have been a side story, you know what I mean? The side story of how Raoul got to the plane, and then you could have potentially just read the entire rest of the story without his POV. like that could have been a prologue. But I think it worked out
Research and Authenticity in Animal Representation
00:28:29
Speaker
how it is. I like it. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, yeah I wouldn't change it. But ah but i do think ah like I did want the rest the rest of it to just be the characters who are from the plane because I think that's it's their story. and i want to his His story is very much like in TV,
00:28:44
Speaker
In TV writing, you have A plots, you have B plots, you have C plots, you have D plots. And this is the series plot, which usually is the D plot. It's the thing that happens in a single scene at the end of the episode. And every episode has one moment where you're reminded of the series plot. And that's kind of what Raoul is for me in this. He's that where you're that moment where you're reminded that there's a series plot going on and that Jason Vraska erupts in no good. Yeah. And I thought it worked worked well. like I love the the scene too with Tomic because it let us have both Mabel's happy family scenes and Ral having a different but still happy family scene kind of setting this. and it And that kind of became a point for the two characters to connect later in the story too. So I felt that was was really nice as well.
00:29:37
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that that was important for Raul to have that moment because I think that for all that he is a happily married man and clearly they had their romance, their relationship, they're not married for nothing, right? Like they love each other. they ah Neither of them it would have gotten married frivolously, I think. um there They are not the kind of people who are just going to be like, hey, let's get married. All right, cool. I mean, at the end of the day, Tomic is a lawyer, so he definitely deliberated this. Yeah. You you know you know there's a prenup there, even though they both love it. Just because, why wouldn't you? um but like Or maybe there isn't, and that's its own message, right? like be That would be a character moment in and of itself.
00:30:17
Speaker
But that said, I feel like Raoul then with Mabel, she's she who takes her emotions very much as a matter of course and she feels her feelings and she understands them and I think that she's very comfortable in her, she's emotionally comfortable in her skin. Raoul is physically comfortable in his skin. But emotionally speaking, I think he doesn't think about his feelings all that much, except for the anger at Jace. But to have that moment of vulnerability and be like, wait, I do miss my husband. Oh, man, what? This is new and I don't like it. um And that's why he doesn't leave the plane. Even though he could. Where's he going to go? Why? Why would he do that to himself? Never again. Now he's like, well, now that I know I'm going to feel bad when I leave my husband behind, I'm just not going to do it.
00:31:04
Speaker
No, he's on a mission now. I don't know i don't know what he's gonna do. Somebody has the fine chase, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And he said he's elected himself, but yeah. And to be clear, I have no idea what's gonna happen after my story. We do not get to find out, so it will be a mystery to me as well. i Now, like everything that happens after this point, I also get to read it and be like, ooh, exciting. I didn't know that was gonna happen. So um this will be fun to see how it plays out. If I were him, I'd go home. I'd be like, you know what? I got turned into an otter. I couldn't find him anyway. This sucks. I'm leaving.
00:31:41
Speaker
All right. Well, have I have another question from the from the Discord from janky as heck asked, how did you enjoy reclin how yeah how did you enjoy reconciling the human and non-human aspects of a world like Bloomberg? I did a lot of research, like so much research. um The balancing act is that on the one hand, I could have leaned entirely into animal experiences. And for example, been like, okay, well, the mice have really sensitive ears and I believe they also have really good sense of smell. This is all research I did a long time ago, so forgive me.
00:32:19
Speaker
forgotten a lot of it. um But I believe mouse vision is not very good. And so I could have, for example, in those scenes had very few visuals and just leaned entirely into, um you know, s sense and and sounds and things like that ah taste. But um but But I'm writing for humans. And so there's a balancing act that you have to do then for readers to be able to kind of immerse themselves in the detail work without ah losing nuances that would not have been apparent to the POV characters. Like how would Helga be experiencing her environment? You know, what are frog senses like versus human senses? And so that was a balancing act in deciding
00:33:01
Speaker
To um not lean entirely into an animal's experience of something and to give you know, ah you're anthropomorphizing you're you're writing it for people with the understanding that people have certain expectations about what information they're going to be given so. that That was a balancing act, but i did I did a lot of research about all of the different animals that were being represented, their emotional cues when information like that was available. so like What do rabbit ears do when they are upset, when they are nervous, when they are happy? What do mice ears do? um what Well, you can't really tell what frogs I imagine or lizards, but
00:33:49
Speaker
Just different kinds of quirks, gestures, things that could be represented of each of the characters. What sounds do badgers make? Because do they growl? Good question. All that stuff with stuff that I sat down and I researched very meticulously. and What sounds do badgers make? They have a lot of different sounds they have. i'm track come I'm trying to remember them, but I think they have kind of like a barking cough that they do. And, and the sounds appear to corresponds to different kinds of communications like get out of my house or where is my child or like things like that, right. And so um this is all stuff that I did at the time, a lot of research about.
00:34:30
Speaker
And, ah or you you think like, Oh yeah, you know, because, um, which, which cats purr? And so it's like, okay, well lions, I think don't purr, but tigers do. That's not for this story. Obviously no lions and tigers here, but Um, but that's the kind of research, right? Where it's like, what sounds do they make and what did they eat was really important to me because I wanted to be able to come up with foods that weren't like, this is what a human's idea of animal diets are like. It was it was more like, no, no, this is what actual animals would probably eat if it was turned into a pie or whatever, like made into a thing that is similar to human food, but is still what that animal would eat. What would they make into a tea?
00:35:11
Speaker
what you know what are the kinds of things they would consume naturally in the world? What are the proportions compared to the different compared to each other? There was actually like a height guide and the world guide, which was really helpful, but also when it came to hugs, badgers are real big though. Especially compared to all the other critter types. Yes, absolutely. and so That was something that the story team initially, I wrote him as correct badger size and they were like, let's tone that down a little bit. It became slightly smaller, um just kind of proportionate. Badger became slightly closer to raccoon, which became slightly closer to otter. Everything was slightly sized down so that the the animal sizes were not wildly disparate. Although there was definitely that one card of the pie thieves at the window that yes was like, that one's appropriate size.
00:36:00
Speaker
i I was just thinking about that because that's the one where the flavor text attributes the raccoon to drooling like saying some I think that was the squirrel in the raccoon was going to split the pie. Yeah, and it's like out the squirrels like I'll take the crust and the raccoon says I'll the Texas on
00:36:20
Speaker
Uh-huh. Yeah. but it's It's so cute. It's so cute. And I loved it. And yeah, and so I did a lot of size research as well. And and size proportions also compared to like the plants in in Valley because they they also had really detailed guides about what kinds of plants would be growing at the different locations. um And I did more research into potential plant options in those areas as well, because ah it it's not all localized to what we would call a particular climate or location, which if you're a plant person, which I'm not, but if you're a plant person, you know there are zones, you know there are places that some plants grow and some plants don't grow, and you know that there are kinds of plants that um have the same name, but they look different in different places depending. and
00:37:07
Speaker
uh, different things flower in different seasons. I researched that. Like I did so much research that was potentially entirely unnecessary, but I had fun doing it. And that was all the important part. You had fun. Yeah. And it was all in the interest of like a one, a one off about like what kind of fizzy drink they would drink. yeah So were there any characters you got to add to the story that, um, that you were proud of? Yes. And this is something, again, that I had to go back and double check who was in the original outline and who wasn't. And Clem was not mentioned not once. Mabel was like a single parent. Oh, really? Yeah. it would it wasn't it wasn't that she was it It wasn't that she had to be a single parent, to be clear. it was just that It was not mentioned that she had a husband at any point. And I was like, but what if she's got a really adorable husband?
00:37:59
Speaker
And the thing is, I don't remember inventing him, which is weird because I feel like he was somewhere. But I'm looking at my original outline and stuff, and he's not there at all. And so I don't know if it was like, was he invented in a conversation that I had with Roy or someone else? or but happened Or did I literally come up with him whole cloth? But um definitely ah k Clem seems to be somebody I invented. So I'm proud of that, if that's true. Clem is adorable. Yeah. I loved writing him because I think that a thing that is easy to do in the US, especially, is fall into the sitcom dad trap where you write a really kind of clumsy, thoughtless,
00:38:45
Speaker
um can't get anything done without his wife sort of guy. And I did not want to do that. I wanted to have a husband who was a partner. I wanted to have a husband who was a father who took care of his kids, who wasn't dumping them off on his wife and who you know was sort of an equal partner in their in their bakery and doing chores and just all of the things. I wanted them to be to be equals on equal footing and emotionally as well. you know He is certainly has more of a sense of humor, I think, than she does. He's a little more mischievous and he teases her more, but they are clearly very in love and that was really important for me to write that because I think that in the same way that we get a lot of bad representations of dads in fiction,
00:39:34
Speaker
Um, we also get a lot of absent moms in fiction, a lot of, a lot of fridged moms who get killed so the heroes can go off on their adventures. And, and so just yeah have a loving couple and the mom's the one that's going off to do stuff. That was, I wanted that and I wanted her her to feel like she could leave the kids at home without being like, without worrying in a more than normal way. Right. because I feel like that's that's one way to represent it, right? It's like, oh no, are you going to be okay when I leave the kids here? Are you sure? Let me leave you a laundry list of things you have to do. She didn't do that. She was just like, yep, he's got it. He's their dad. I'm going to tell you a quick side ah detour here back to Ixalan story. Was Amalia a character you created or was she created by the story team? She was created by the story team, but
00:40:26
Speaker
Again, kind of going back to my memories of her, she was written up in the world guide. So like she had a background she had a history that was given to me. um She was, I think, always intended to be sort of a naive fresh off the boat kind of character like This is sort of her first outing as a somewhat newly fledged vampire. um And I think that she came from a you know fairly sheltered upbringing. There was a lot of her, though, that I did get to invent. I yeah i got to invent her magic.
00:41:00
Speaker
which They had just a nebulous idea of, well, she's a cartographer, do something with that. It's so cool. That's such a cool magic about it. She was my favorite part of the excellent story. Yeah. I don't even remember if they told me she needed to be a POV character or not. That's just, I can't remember again. It's so far back. I just sprung that one on you. No, it's okay. When you were talking about characters, I was like, I've got to ask because Amalia was great. I'm glad they brought her forward into the next few stories, even though, like, when we were talking to Shawna and, you know, she said, Oh, yeah, Amalia was a late ad that you're like, Oh, you got a sticker in here somewhere. Yes, yes that was because that that was something that, um,
00:41:46
Speaker
ah She was not at the end initially it was the the as I wrote her and made her a POV character the story team and the the reason that I'm I'm Hesitating about things is again first my memory is bad and second of all I really don't want to take credit for stuff that I might not have done because they these stories are such a group effort. Yeah, they absolutely are and every step of the way like the story team has a solid outline that they give you that you then flush out every episode ah multiple people are reading it and giving feedback and making changes and like you know this is ah absolutely a group effort um and and as you go and as you're writing they'll be like oh you know can you do this can you do that and so um my memories of things first of all may flood and second of all again it's just it is it is entirely a group effort so
00:42:35
Speaker
um But yeah, Amalia kind of came out of left field. Everybody really liked her. And ah she, Kellen was supposed to just leave at the end. And then they were like, well, but now yeah he's got to take her. And that was not intended in the beginning. she was that her Her outcome was she was supposed to go back home at the end and potentially be involved in whatever politicking and machinations are going on right now. in the yeah and i't think she I think she'll be much happier.
00:43:07
Speaker
My God, yes. yeah she i like Again, for her, I drew on a lot of, um not just my Catholic upbringing, which I am not Catholic anymore for a lot of probably very obvious reasons, but I think that ah there are i also know a lot of people who were homeschooled ah in very Christian backgrounds and are not that anymore. Right. yeah yeah you know it's and i i i'm not going to pretend I'm not going to pretend those people were in cults and that they've escaped and deprogrammed and all that stuff, but so many of them, they were raised in these very conservative homeschooled environments and are now like living their best non-binary, air-oased lives. Right, exactly. it's It's a lot to be raised in a particular sheltered experience and
00:44:01
Speaker
Go out into the world as Amalia does and realize that so many things you know are not right. And if you're a good person and that happens to you, you have two options. You close yourself off and reject reality in order to preserve the integrity of your upbringing. or you accept that you were taught wrong and you change. and She accepts that she was taught wrong, she changes, but more importantly, at that point, she has to leave because she needs then to find her new place and in the real world, so to speak, as opposed to the sheltered world that she was raised in. yeah Thank you for that background. I'm glad I asked about her because that was
00:44:51
Speaker
That's really awesome. Yeah, I mean, it's like when you realize that you're a privileged colonizer, what do you do? Do you continue to be a privileged colonizer, or do you accept that this is wrong and bad and you need to do something else? Or do you go to Gravnica and do archaeology on the gruel territory? Hell yeah, she's going to end up in district save-in, I'm just saying. I don't know that to be clear. Again, I know nothing, but if it were me, I would send her district save-in. She and Quint can get together and do a lot of fun stuff. I'm just saying. That's just my opinion. Alice, what do you want to ask next after I sidetrack that? After I sidetrack. So this this might dovetail in nicely, maybe. um So for another question from CilantroLight on the Discord, um who's a character that you'd like to write for but haven't yet? Oh, they're so like, it's tough, right? i
00:45:48
Speaker
I feel like I would like to write for Frasca, but I think maybe I'm not mean enough. I think it takes a certain a certain kind of person to write her and I maybe am not that cool. Maybe Kaya? like I did like her a lot. She's she's got a lot going for her. um I hope she's enjoying her vacation. She needs it. She and Tyvar are fishing in a river. yeah send up Send them both to Bloomberg and just let them fish for a while. yeah yeah what What would Tyvar be on Bloomberg?
00:46:20
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I don't know. I feel like Sean has answered that and I don't remember what her answer was. I'm inclined to be like whatever Sean says. Yeah. I mean, she is the expert on Tyvar, so I'm going to have to ask her what she said. Well, we're going to see him on Duskmoor, aren't we? Isn't he showing up? I don't know. I have missed the preview stuff that they did at STCC. Oh, I don't remember. I thought I saw a picture of him in the preview stuff. Maybe I'm totally wrong and it's somebody else. I mean, it would be nice to see him again. ah So, yeah. Yeah, this looks like Tyvar. See? Isn't it like the Wanderers there and Kaito, I think, is going to be stuck there? And Tyvar. Yeah, that's what this looks like of a Wizards up preview announcement for Duskmoon.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, I forget who else is there. Yeah. i like one more person Nico. Nico. Nico. Yeah. Nice to see Nico again. Yes. And Zamone. And Zamone. All right. Cool. Yeah. I'm liking this this cast. is They have assembled a a pretty solid team for that that I think Tyvar is going to be. I don't know that he's going to be the shaggy of that team. He's shaggy of shaggy. This is violent? I don't know. But I feel like it's going to be a lot of fun. Yeah, Nico, Tyvar, Simone, Kaido, and the Wanderer is the cast for the next story. Yeah, so that's going to be a heck of a tale. I'm very hyped to see what's going on there. And they're looking for Nashi. Nice. Okay, i'm I'm really excited for the story.
00:47:56
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I know they felt like they had to preview that because they were worried people wouldn't get on board with horror plane in this particular kind of 80s horror plane. Yeah, different from Innistrad, which is the classic horror we were getting. Yeah, I'm excited to see where this goes. This cast looks really cool. Yeah, I mean, this is out of my genre, I'll say. I wasn't... I was thinking this would be a set that I may not pay as much attention to, but yeah, this cast definitely makes me want to pay more attention to it. Yeah. It feels like like you're dropping, is this is almost like an AU where you're dropping them into stranger things, but worse. Or like, or like this is Alan Wake magic. I don't know. it It seems like it's going to be real cool and I'm i'm hyped for it.
00:48:41
Speaker
That preview art of the Zimone looks amazing too. Oh yeah. No, she's looking good. This picture of Tyvar just having his living his best life hitting zombies in the face of the bat. I'm saying he's he's the guy that in the horror movie, he's having a good time with the baseball bat. i'm just yes He's enjoying himself. He's the only person who doesn't realize they're in a horror movie. He's like, we're having a good time. And you're like, you just just killed like 500 zombies. I know, right? Yeah. This is I was telling Kya I needed to go on vacation and here I am living it up. And everyone else is like, you have lost your goddamn mind. He never had it to begin with. Nope.
00:49:31
Speaker
That's going to be fun, though. That is going to be fun. I'm looking forward to that. yeah um So one thing I want to ask about the way magic works on Bloomberg who's a little bit different with the weaving and the potential side effect of people going insane. How is that? you know did that i Was that your idea or did that come from the story team? Yeah, no that was all in the World Guide. they The World Guide comes with a vast and deep history of the plane that goes way back. Even though it goes way back, ah that obviously can't all go into a story. and so um you know Going on the outline that they have, it's like, all right, how much of that
00:50:12
Speaker
can I incorporate into like the actual plot and story that goes on the page and how much is not going to be there? And in the same way that you have the Silmarillion for Tolkien, um you have ah just this enormously deep, immersive world guide for it for the plane that then a fraction of it ends up. you know There's like a single line in The Hobbit somewhere off. Yeah. we've gotten We've gotten three different planeswalker guide episodes for the set. There's a lot of it. Yeah, no. And it's so cool. And so that was already the weaving stuff was in the world guide. The world building folks put that together. The story folks did that.
00:50:54
Speaker
ah So I just worked in what made sense for this particular story. And in the time that we're telling this story, the the weaving problems that were had it were are very kind of legendary historical types of things. And it's not that people like King Glorb have necessarily forgotten or decided to ignore the warnings of the past, but maybe they sort of started have started to do that. I i think a good comparison. i feel this is ah This is very much kind of like ah a climate change sort of world as well. I think the allegory is there. um you you can You can see it in all of the sudden natural disasters that are happening all over the place. And Valley is sort of the protected terrain kind of at the center of this whirlwind of chaotic, bad
00:51:46
Speaker
please weather stuff. um Seasons run amok and natural disasters all over the place and all of them are represented as animals essentially. but Um, you think of things like the hole in the ozone layer and how like once upon a time that was a giant problem and then we fixed it and now it's pretty much gone. Yay, we did it. And that's kind of where this is now to the point that some people are starting to forget that there was a hole in the ozone layer. Some people are starting to forget that we made all of these life changes. Because we didn't want the whole to get worse and i think that's kind of where people like large live where it's you know oh well we have all these stories about how bad things were when people got too powerful but was it really that bad is this really true and exaggerated are all these warning tales.
00:52:33
Speaker
metaphorical, who knows? And so i I think that all of that is kind of built in in really cool ways. And that again, not me, I didn't come up with that. um But yeah, it's, this is very much kind of like, ah it's the saying, you know, that absolute power corrupts absolutely. um and And this leans into that. But I think also, what is cool is that you could also say, you know, absolute power reveals, And what it revealed ultimately here is that a lot of the weavers who realized that things were starting to go bad, they didn't want to do that. They didn't want that to happen. And so they gave up their power in order to stay good. And it and they traded it off to make sure that community survived
00:53:23
Speaker
that, you know, Valley survived. They created this safe haven for everyone where people could live in harmony until the Fire Nation attacked. And like that was the way that the the plane was built. This is a very communal oriented plane. It's it's very much about you know being part of society and everyone helps each other and everyone does what they can for each other. And instead of pursuing power, instead of trying to be rulers of things, King Glorb is the king and that's it. And even he gets knocked down real quick as soon as he starts reaching for more power. So instead of being a king by virtue of I'm taking care of all the people that I'm responsible for,
00:54:06
Speaker
He tries to be the king of, I'm the one who is hoarding power and um you know ostensibly protecting people, but at what cost? And the cost sucks. And so he's got to go. And that's that. ah That's really cool. So I have a question that kind of occurred as is where we've been chatting. So this this wasn't one we had before. But um you've kind of mentioned in reference like Tolkien a couple of times. And so was the the birthday party at the beginning? Yes. Kind of an intentional nod. Oh, yeah. 100%. OK.
00:54:43
Speaker
Yeah. and that when When they asked me for chapter titles, I don't always title my chapters. um I did in in my space opera books, but it's not something that I always do. And in this case, I hadn't titled any of them, and they were like, well, do you have any title ideas? And I was like, well, this one's got to be called an expected party because it's expected. When everyone's new, they're going to have it, but also it's a Tolkien thing. So yes, 100%.
00:55:08
Speaker
Yeah, because I did observe what Tae and I were talking about the the story in of a previous episode. I was like, this definitely feels very Hobbit-esque. Oh, yeah. yeah Like Hobbit-Tae-esque, at least in in this the world. and so Yeah, very much leaning into that vibe, for sure. Okay.
00:55:28
Speaker
So what was this one? What's your next question, Alex? All right. um So we've got one more from the Discord here. So what is your your favorite color identity? Maybe to to elaborate with the question a little bit, maybe yours are just a color identity you like play in. I don't know if you have any thoughts there. Yeah. OK, so i my original deck, back when I used to play regularly, was a black deck. And at the time, we didn't have, um like I was playing with friends, so I had no concept of names for kinds of decks. And so to me, I always just called it my damage discard deck. So it was like drain life and hypnotic specters and
00:56:22
Speaker
um Classic black cards. Classic black. My Lake of the Dead was in there. And so it was basically just, I'm going to do, I'm going to steal your life and I'm going to make your cards go away. The rack was in there. The curse track also in there. both Both of them. Cause it was like, I'm going to squeeze you from both ends. Um, and so that was, that was my go-to deck. My husband played red blue because he got sick of it. And he just wanted to hit me with lightning and counter my spells. And so. That was really irritating, but that that was pretty much how we would play back and forth. Now though, I've really gotten into green. Let me tell you, giant growth is so fun. I love just popping that out and just making people sad real quick because they didn't see that coming. and and That's fun. Arena, I've been playing green and ah the we got the starter decks for Bloomberg and I've been playing the green-white deck and having having a good time with that.
00:57:22
Speaker
Hey, um were the creature types assigned for the main characters before the story was written? Yes, yes. All of the creature types were assigned. um I believe all the colors were also assigned. I think that was all in the World Guide that was given to me initially. but Yeah, like Mabel was a mouse, and Huggs was not actually named Huggs originally, but he was a badger. Huggs was a great name for a badger. Yes. That was not his original name, but ah that's that's one that they changed it, in and I'm like, yeah, that's good. I like it. Because that was something that that that I also... like I had an i
00:57:59
Speaker
he was in the outline and I'm pretty sure they said that he was Geb's friend in the outline, but now I don't remember. I would have to go back and look, but I was like, you know, as a badger, he's just going to squish stuff and I'm here from here for that. And so I think they decided that would be then funny to change his name to something that we intend to fucking things to death. But um yeah, all all of the animals were pre-assigned. Galif I had actually written as a different kind of lizard than how he's depicted in the art, um because we don't always necessarily have that stuff from the art team. right So the Stripe Trap Scallions thing I think actually made a little less sense ultimately than it had initially, but as do they they kept it and I love it anyway, because i like that that I came up with that name myself and I thought it was hilarious. It is. I i enjoy it.
00:58:51
Speaker
ah We have lizards and reptiles. So I enjoyed. I'm also the fact that I like practice a play style. I enjoyed the lizards and so it was really cool. Yeah. So when I rogue, he is trying to remember the kind of lizard he is, but it's like a South American lizard that has, um, uh, not like a blue tailed skink, but it's like, like black and white striped vertical stripes and has a blue tail. Um, yeah, and i can't remember I can't remember what that exact kind of lizard is called, but that was my original conception of him. or for anyone who at home is keeping a score on that. It doesn't matter now. He still looks really awesome in the art. I love how they drew him. I love his cards. I love his little fire maces. Super happy about all of it. so um But it's it's just one of those interesting things about story is that um the story team and the art team aren't necessarily always going to be talking to each other. Same thing with like the flavor text people.
00:59:47
Speaker
um we we don't always like There's a card, I think, where it says Mabel has one child. And I was like, well, okay, that happens. Yeah. But um yeah, it's there's a lot that goes into all of this and so many moving parts that are happening simultaneously. So you know it these things happen. It is what it is. But in the end, it's all really cool and a lot of fun.
01:00:14
Speaker
I just noticed Giv's card got creature type mer lizard mercenary. That feels like a rapscallion creature type. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I think his hug's also a but ah a Badger mercenary because I feel like he should be. Because they were i mean because that's what they were, basically. so He's a Badger warrior. Oh Badger warrior, interesting. hu Interesting.
01:00:37
Speaker
I have no say on anything that happens. Right, yeah yeah yeah. Yeah, that's that's it. Well, and a lot some of that comes to like actual gameplay to mechanics sometimes. Oh, yeah, yeah, that is the most of story and flavor. Yeah, and I like I think that the story in some ways I'm not gonna say it's alternate universe type stuff from the cards, but I think that um It's supplemental and the cards are the cards and the cards do have to be balanced They have you know, they're there are people out there doing lots of very important math about that stuff and you know the the story is there to support not to supplant and Yeah, yeah. Yeah, which is
01:01:16
Speaker
Ultimately, why I understand it, but unfortunately Mabel ended up as a mouse soldier, not mouse baker, but it is what it is. I mean, it is a card game of things fighting each other, you know? Yeah. she's Well, her background also, I mean, she was trained in the militia. like She's she not for nothing. she is sort She's trained to fight. She knows what she's doing. and and she went on her She also went on the the special mouse journey to climb the peak. and
01:01:49
Speaker
you know, plant her flag there and be awesome with her fellow mice. And yeah, she's a great warrior, soldier, awesome person. I like soldier because it implies that she works with a group. I think warrior feels almost like more of a solo kind of kind of thing, where a soldier feels like you're part of a team. And I think I think i do like that for her. Yeah, I thought there was something else I was going to say and I'm trying to remember what it was. It was Vraska. Listen, I was told to write her as a lizard. And I feel like that's something where the that in that case the card is the AU. Of course she should be a snake. And I think that it's good that she's a snake on the card because like, yes, but it actually made no sense for her to be a snake on the plane. Oh God.
01:02:36
Speaker
That was the most unintended joke I've made all night.
01:02:44
Speaker
The snake's on this plane. it They're calamity beasts. And while we can all agree that Vraska is a calamity, I think that she's not a calamity beast um by definition as ah an outsider coming to this plane through an omen path. and um And so I think that if you wanna go by color, she would she would be, um she's what, green-black? And so that would be, is that is that, no, are the rats green-black or are they blue? The rats are black-blue, like the raccoons, or not the raccoons, these squirrels are black. Yeah, so she would have been a squirrel by color, but again, it's not strictly that, because look at Jaycee's a fox.
01:03:31
Speaker
Which we can make jokes about that too. um But ah we'll have to Aixalon, he's a fox. But yeah, I think that ah her being the lizard on the plane made sense for the story, and then her being a snake on the card makes sense for the cards. And so just I know people have asked me about that, so I wanted to mention it. All right, Pulte, do you have any other questions to ask? No, I think this has been an absolute pleasure talking to you about the story. um
01:04:02
Speaker
This plane, ah I guess the the other question would be the ah ah yeah ah ah the furry question that you got from the Discord. You forgot that one. Yes. Yes. Sorry, I forgot to write that. So I guess the I did forget to put that in there. So the the question was, are you a furry? And if not, what was it like to write for them? So I'm not a furry, but I do have friends who are furries and i I think it's all too easy to
01:04:36
Speaker
write something that ends up feeling, I don't know, kind of mean-spirited about it. And I didn't want to do that. That's not cool. I want you all to enjoy this the way that you enjoy like other furry stuff. So that's kind of more or less what I kept in mind, where even though Ral is really pissed off to be an otter, it's mostly just that he's not used to it. And he would never he would never have thought of that. Again, just that's that's not what he thinks. But um it it feels like the kind of place where it's like, If you there's an oven path here, you could just go be your authentic self. And that's really cool. And um i I wanted it to feel nice, I guess, is is really what when i was when I was writing it. I enjoyed it. And a lot of my furry friends also enjoy it. so And a lot of them, it even brought them back to being interested in magic again if they weren't playing. so Heck yeah. Enjoy. Do that. Yeah. That was great for that. So yeah. well
01:05:35
Speaker
Is there any other work that you work on or anything you want to plug while you're on the podcast? I will i will answer one more question because that there was the Twitter question, which is which is the best Pokemon and why is it Woober? I'll give you two answers. The best Pokemon is Woober because it looks like a little axolotl, so cute. love Wooper. And I think that Wooper meta was really strong in Pokemon Go for a while. I feel like my, because my husband's the Pokemon Go player, um and I feel like he had a solid Wooper team going for for a certain period of time. But, secondarily, Jigglypuff is the best Pokemon. That's it. That's that's the tweet.
01:06:21
Speaker
All right. well Well, thank you so much for joining us. This this was such a great conversation. and It was so good to be here. And oh, more stuff that I wrote. ah you can definitely um If you like space opera, I have a trilogy, ah the Chilling Effect trilogy, that is very much um what if mass effect but different. And if you if you like mass effect and also lots of various video game and pop culture references with ah Cuban cursing, um Cuban-American cursing, I guess, ah then that is a good series for you to jump into. And if you want a more Star Wars-y, kind of Mandalorian, Voltron, legendary defender kind of book where Peace is Lost is,
01:07:05
Speaker
a road trip, found family road trip to go to feed a giant robot. And I also have some contemporary fantasy romance coming out next year. That is, what if a competitive magic show, like reality show, and you're teamed up with a loser who's actually secretly the guy you have a giant crush on. oh That's next year. That sounds interesting, right? Yeah, yeah, protect romance is a weird kind of um genre, because there's a lot of variety right now. But yeah, I think that the reality show element of it is pretty fun. So. All right, cool. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, thanks. you Thank you for coming on. We really appreciate it. And yeah, we will talk to you next week, everyone.
01:07:58
Speaker
And that's our show for today. You can find all of the hosts on Twitter for now. Hobbs can be found at HobbsQ, Tay can be found at Tayatransends, and Alex can be found at Mel underscore chronicler. Feel free to send us any questions, comments, thoughts, hopes, and dreams to the Goblin Lore Pod on Twitter, or email us at goblinlorepodcast at gmail.com. If you would like to support your friendly neighborhood Gob's Hugs, our link tree can be found on our Twitter account and in the description of today's show. This has everything from various discount codes to the link for our Patreon. The music for today's show was by Wintergotten, who can be found at vintergotten at bandcamp dot.com. The art was done by Steven Raphael, who can be found at Steve Ruffle on Twitter. Gob and Lore is proud to be presented by Hipsters of the Coast as part of their growing forthos content.
01:08:48
Speaker
Check them out on Twitter at hipsters MTG or online at hipstersofthecoast.com. Thank you for listening and remember goblins like snowflakes are only dangerous in numbers.